The judge overseeing the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Johns Hopkins All Children's civil case made famous by a Netflix documentary has lowered the damages the hospital must pay by $47.5 million, Tampa Bay Times reported Jan. 17.
On Jan. 17, Judge Hunter Carroll agreed with Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital's motion stating that certain monetary awards granted to the family of 17-year-old Maya Kowalski by the jury were "excessive."
For example, the judge lowered the $50 million noneconomic damages awarded to Jack Kowalski, Maya's father, stemming from his wife's death to $24 million. Additionally, he decreased economic damages for family members by $16.5 million and annulled a $5 million award related to fraudulent medical billing.
Instead of paying $261 million in total damages, the hospital must now pay $213.5 million, according to the publication.
The Kowalski family has a 15-day window to decline the adjusted damages award and opt for a new trial specifically focused on the damages claims that Mr. Carroll reduced.
In that same decision, Mr. Carroll denied the hospital's motion for a retrial of the medical malpractice case, stating that the jury was accurate in finding that the hospital falsely imprisoned and battered Maya in 2016, when she was 10.
The jury's verdict included findings of inflicting emotional distress on the Kowalski family and contributing to Maya's mother's suicide.
Despite the recent verdict, Ethen Shapiro, co-lead counsel for the hospital, said Johns Hopkins plans to pursue an appeal for as long as required.
"Any fair and unbiased review of the facts and the law in this case completely vindicates the care provided by the experts at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital," Mr. Shapiro said in a statement to the publication. "It is a sad indictment of the judicial process in this case that those facts were concealed and that the law was misrepresented to the jury."
The case gained national attention after being featured in a Netflix documentary, "Take of Care of Maya," which has garnered millions of views since its release in June.